About

CA$ 33,665

198

If you missed out on this Kickstarter, visit www.wolfwareeng.com to pick up your Howler Arcade Controller or Arcade Kit for late March delivery!

Thank you all for shattering the $10k goal! I will be working hard over the next few months to deliver you the best Open-Source All-In-One Arcade Controller so you can relive your childhood memories!

What is the Howler Arcade Controller?

The Howler Arcade Controller is a 4 joystick, 26 button, gamepad controller, keyboard controller, mouse controller, 96 channel LED driver USB composite device designed for interfacing to controls on a home arcade system.

*Update Video*

LED Show!

See if you can count how many times I say "so" in the video…

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The Bearded Nerd Presents: The Howler Controller in Action!

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How did I come up with it?

I was building my home arcade machine and wanted the ability to light up each of the buttons and joysticks with an RGB LED. I also wanted to be able to configure each button and joystick as keyboard, mouse, or joystick input. I did a thorough search on the internet but there was no single device that could do everything I wanted. In order to do what I wanted it would have cost over $250 and require 5+ circuit boards.

I thought to myself, "I am an Electronics Engineer, I will just design my own" and that is how the Howler Controller was born. I slaved away designing a prototype: drawing the schematic, doing the board layout, soldering the parts, writing the firmware, writing a Windows driver, and Testing (this required many hours of Punch-Out!, Pac-Man, TMNT Arcade and Track & Field ).

My "prototype" was working very well so I posted it on a few arcade websites and there was immediate interest and feedback. The version I am working on now is based largely on that feedback.

My Design Story

You're probably all wondering how this "life-changing" piece of technology came to be. Well here is how it all went down...

Proof of Concept Stage:

Step 1: Cut a hole in a box...

Proto-Controller

Step 2: Put your stick in the box (joystick that is)...

Proto-Controller Populated

Step 3: Using an Atmel microcontroller dev kit, write some firmware to drive RGB LEDs using a dedicated LED driver chip over the I2C interface connected to a breadboard which the PC sees as a USB composite device consisting of a USB Generic HID device for driving the LEDs, a HID Joystick device, a HID Keyboard, and a HID Mouse device. *DEEP BREATH* Was that geek speak nerdy enough for you?

Alpha Stage:

Step 1: Develop a schematic diagram of the Howler Arcade Controller hardware, at this point it was simply known as "Arcade Controller"

schematics

Step 2: Use a CAD tool to place the components on the board.

Step 3: Change the pinout of the connectors because the board is impossible to route using only 4 layers.

Step 4: Change the pinout of the connectors again because the board is STILL impossible to route using only 4 layers.

Step 5: Finally got a good pinout for the connectors, routing is going well... Hear crying coming from upstairs, oh ya it's my turn, almost forgot I had a 1 month old... what time is it anyway? 4am? well baby isn't sleeping so why should I?

baby

Step 6: Order the boards. Send them daily emails asking if they can make my boards faster. Realize I want to change the system architecture and email to ask if they can halt production. They tell me the boards have already shipped. Start schematic capture of the Beta version. Receive Alpha boards and never populate... At least solder mask is a cool colour...

Alpha

Beta Stage:

Step 1: Update the schematic based on my new architecture (completed even before I received my Alpha boards).

Step 2: Spend an entire weekend in the basement re-routing the entire PCB. Again send files off to board vendor.

Step 5: Cancel my plans to go out drinking to come home and solder the boards... (how nerdy is that???)

populated board

Step 6: Plug in board: wait for it... wait for it... YES, no smoke! And it is even recognized as a USB device!

Step 7: Build 4 player Arcade machine to develop and test the Howler Arcade Controller. The arcade machine shown actually uses 2 Howler Arcade Controllers because there are actually 38 buttons in the system. Up to 4 controllers can be connected in a system to add up to 104 buttons and 16 joysticks (I don't even have that many friends...).

arcade 1

arcade 2

Step 8: Spend WAY too much time playing TMNT:

TMNT

Step 9: After I had my TMNT/Punch Out!/Track & Field fix, I went to work re-writing all the firmware that was written in the Proof of Concept stage because of the new architecture.

8) Requires only ONE USB connection to the computer. Similar set-ups would require 4 or more USB connections!

9) LEDs can each be individually controlled (255 levels of brightness). Total number of LED channels is 96! Similar set-ups would require 3 or more LED driver boards! The series current limiting resistors are also included on the PCB for all button and joystick RGB LEDs. The resistors are set for +5V 17mA LEDs. No external series resistors required, just plug in the RGB LED and go! Common Anode RGB LEDs are required and diffused LEDs are recommended.

10) Working on command line program (future feature) that would integrate with popular front ends so that each game would light up the buttons and joystick based on their original configuration. (i.e. If you are playing TMNT Arcade, the controls would light up BLUE for Leonardo, RED for Raphael, ORANGE for Michelangelo, and PURPLE for Donatello). This program will also offer various LED illumination effects (sweep, bloom, chase, etc)

11) No Soldering Required! All connections are spring connections that accept 20AWG-24AWG wires.

12) Up to 4 controllers can be connected to a system for up to 104 buttons and 16 joysticks.

Kits:

Paradise Arcade Controls

I am excited to announce that we have teamed up with www.paradisearcadeshop.com to bring you complete RGB LED arcade kits! All kits include everything you need to build an awesome arcade console.

The components used in these kits are top quality and feature:

Paradise Arcade RGB Balltop Joystick

LED Stick Shown (RGB pic coming soon)

These joysticks are custom made by Paradise Arcade Shop and include a strong spring for centering and can be adjusted for 2, 4, or 8 way action!

IL RGB Pushbutton (Concave or Convex)

IL RGB Concave Pushbutton

IL RGB Illumination PCB

These 1 1/18" diameter pearl white translucent pushbuttons are specifically made for RGB illumination. These high quality pushbuttons are made in Spain and include a 50g Zippy microswitch. Each IL RGB Pushbutton comes with an RGB illumination board custom made to fit without modification. You will have the option of choosing concave (old school) or convex (competition style) buttons for you kit!

All required wiring

Wiring Harness

All kits come complete with required wiring so all you need to do is build the enclosure, connect USB to you computer and start gaming!

Open Source

Many of you have been asking if I could make this project open source. Since the firmware will be USB upgradable I have decided to make it open source! I will be providing the source code for the firmware once the units ship. I will also be providing an interface document for the communications protocol between the RGB LED controller and the USB HID device so that a driver can be written for any operating system.

What does this mean?

This means that the possibilities are endless. We could have an entire community of Howler Arcade Controller enthusiasts (pay maybe I am dreaming). But a few examples of things you could do:

make a USB midi controller so you could design your own electronic keyboard

make a crazy 96 channel USB controller LED chaser

With 42 inputs and 96 outputs connected to a computer over a USB port, the sky is the limit.

Future LEDBlinky Support

I have confirmation from the creator of LEDBlinky that they will be providing future support for the Howler Arcade Controller in this awesome program. For those of you unfamiliar with LEDBlinky, it is an arcade LED Control Software and Animation editor that interfaces with many of the popular Front-End softwares (MaLa, AtomicFE, GameEx, Hyperspin, Maximum Arcade, etc).

LEDBlinky will make the Howler Arcade Controller even better! Check out www.ledblinky.net to see what it can do!

Team

Here is the Complete Howler Arcade Controller Team:

Hardware Design: Josh Wolf

Firmware Design: Josh Wolf

Software Design: Josh Wolf

Test Engineering: Josh Wolf

Marketing: Josh Wolf

Video and Images: Josh Wolf

No wonder the video is so lame, an engineer made it...

I am going to be participating in the Kicking it Forward program that helps more creators get funded. Learn more at: http://kickingitforward.org

Timeline:

December 2013: Test first run of PCBs (by playing a lot of Punch-Out!, Pac-Man, TMNT Arcade and Track & Field). Complete Firmware. Work on Howler Config Program, Howler LED DLL, Howler Commandline program.

January 2014: Complete Howler Config Program, Howler LED DLL. Work on Commandline Program.

February 2014: Complete Commandline program.Order high volume run of PCBs (If the Kickstarter community comes through!).

March 2014: Ship out Howler Arcade Controllers to Kickstarter Supporters!

Risks and challenges

I am an Electronics Engineer with over 10 years experience designing hardware, firmware and software for various projects. I have already built the Beta Howler Arcade Controller PCBs, written the firmware, started a Windows DLL, and started the Howler Config utility.

I have designed the PCB to be as easy to build as possible and have chosen components that are readily available. I should be able to receive boards from my overseas contacts with a 2-3 week turn time.

I need the help of the Kickstarter community in order to get volume pricing for components. I also want to get the Howler Controller out there in volume to get support from the arcade community to better integrate with more of the popular software programs.

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge CA$ 89 or more
About $68

Early Adopter - 1 Production Howler Arcade Controller PCB at an early adopter price! As an added bonus I will also include the +5V/2A power supply and USB A-B cable for the first 50 Kickstarters. Just connect some buttons, joysticks and LEDs and you're ready to play!

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge CA$ 95 or more
About $72

Early Procrastinator - Missed the boat on the Early Adopter? Don't fret, for only $6 more you can 1 Production Howler Controller (fully assembled and tested as all PCBs will be), +5V/2A power supply, and USB A-B cable. Just connect some buttons, joysticks and LEDs and you're ready to play! Don't miss out on this one, only 250 units at this pledge amount!

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge CA$ 499 or more
About $379

Be a part of the design: 1 Production Howler Arcade Controller PCB with +5V/2A power supply and USB A-B cable PLUS you and ONLY you get to choose the color of the circuit board (choose from: green, red, yellow, blue, black, or white)!